It’s all relative When it comes to naming local eateries, proprietors keep it in the family Intersection
By: David Sanderson Posted: 2:00 AM CST Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026

What’s in a name?

“Opening a restaurant is exciting — but naming it? That’s where many entrepreneurs get stuck,” started a recent article in an online publication aimed at the hospitality industry.

Incorporating a dining spot’s location — think Eleven Madison Park in New York City or our own 529 Wellington — was one suggestion. Another was choosing a punny tag à la Dallas sandwich shop Bread Zeppelin. (Our favourite? Thai Tanic in Plainville, Mass.) Or one can always turn to their family for inspiration, the author wrote, citing Bud & Marilyn’s, a Philadelphia diner whose moniker pays homage to the proprietor’s grandparents.

A number of eating establishments in Winnipeg adhere to the writer’s third suggestion. We visited several ahead of Valentine’s Day because, let’s face it, what better way to show love than naming one’s livelihood for a child, parent… even an adored pair of pets?

Dave and LaVerne’s Modern Diner

15 Lakewood Blvd.

The first thing customers encounter when they step inside Dave and LaVerne’s Modern Diner is a wall adorned with framed photos underneath a sign reading “true wall of fam.”

That isn’t a typo, explains Darin Amies, president of True Hospitality, the company responsible for Dave and LaVerne’s, as well as Junction 59 Roadhouse, the James Avenue Pumphouse and Bistro 330 in La Salle.

“It’s ‘fam’ for family. All the pictures are of staff’s family members,” he says, standing in the front lobby of the Southdale hot spot, which celebrated its first anniversary in January.

Included in the montage is a wedding shot of Amies’ parents, Dave and LaVerne, taken in 1957. Amies, who grew up in Moose Jaw where his late father was a doctor for 55 years, admits he’s not sure whether his mom, a former nurse who died in 2016, would be thrilled to see her name in lights or not.

“Her given name was LaVerne, only she wasn’t a big fan of that, so she went by her middle name Denise her whole life,” he says. “But since Dave and LaVerne’s sounded better for a diner than Dave and Denise’s — we were going for that Laverne & Shirley feel — we opted for that.”

Amies points out a metre-high wall that neatly divides the 100-seat room in half. Made to resemble a cement breeze-block fence, it’s a replica of one that stood in his parents’ backyard for decades.

“And a lot of the records on the wall were plucked from their shelves,” he continues, nodding at titles by the likes of the Monkees and the Partridge Family.

“They both loved to entertain. The bar at home was always fully stocked and the house was always crazy clean in the event company showed up unannounced. The ’60s and early ’70s were a great era and that’s the spirit we try to capture here.”

Shirley’s

135 Osborne St.

Renée Girard says it was an easy decision in 2025 to dub her new Osborne Village restaurant Shirley’s for her maternal grandmother Shirley Tyrrell (née Travers), a mother of seven and grandmother of 10 who died in 2014 at age 83.

“Her happy place was the kitchen. That was where she felt most comfortable and where she showed love through food,” says Girard, parked in her 35-seat locale, a finalist on Air Canada’s 2025 Best New Restaurants in Canada list.

Girard grew up on a farm near Elie where she lived with her parents, older brother and both sets of grandparents.

“My mom and dad had this massive hickory barn that they turned into a restaurant and banquet facility, with my grandmother Shirley in charge of the cooking,” she says. “Comfort food was her specialty, but she was also well-known for her desserts. If she was looking after me and my brother, we could always count on a cookie after breakfast, cake after lunch and a root-beer float after dinner.”

Calling her grandmother a natural chef who rarely reached for a measuring cup, Girard says there were a lot of happy tears last spring when she informed her family of her intention to call the restaurant Shirley’s.

“There’s a framed picture of my grandma on the wall behind the bar and, because she was huge into pickling, in her honour we have a pickle plate on the menu consisting of rotating pickled veggies.”

---

Frankie’s Italian Kitchen

505 Sterling Lyon Pkwy.

Veteran radio personality Joe Aiello chuckles, saying he and his older cousin Raffaele probably should have named their eatery after their great-grandmother Caterina instead of Frankie, her husband of 68 years.

“Even if my great grandfather thought he could cook, my nonna wouldn’t let him anywhere near the kitchen,” says Aiello, co-host of the Philly, Joe & Vicki morning show on 92.1 CITI-FM. “She had this big wooden spoon and lemme tell you, it wasn’t just for stirring. Touch her pots and pans and you could expect a rap across the knuckles.”

Francesco Raffaele Aiello was born in Amato, Italy, in 1888. He joined the Canadian Army in 1914, six years after he moved to Winnipeg with his brother Battista.

“After the war he caught on with the railroad,” Aiello says. “He had six kids — my dad was one of 20 grandkids — and I was fortunate enough to have him around till I was 13. He was 91 when he passed in 1979.”

The Winnipeg location became the third Frankie’s Italian Kitchen — there’s one in Vancouver and another in Chilliwack, B.C. — when it opened in January 2020.

“My great grandfather was a very humble man and I think he would have been completely blown away to have a place named after him. He was an Italian immigrant whose dream was to make enough money to bring his family to Canada, which, God bless him, he somehow managed to do.”

Kristina’s

761 Corydon Ave.

Shortly after Yvonne Nakoulas opened Kristina’s in 1995, her then 16-year-old daughter Christina prepared a dish for the head chef to try.

“Since the restaurant was named after her, I guess she thought there should be something of hers on the menu,” Nakoulas says, seated in the 75-seat Corydon Avenue mainstay. “She did a chicken breast stuffed with broccoli, peppers, black olives and feta and it turned out so good, we’ve been serving it as Kristina’s Signature Chicken, ever since.”

Nakoulas, who moved to Winnipeg from Greece at age 15, and her late husband Jimmy originally ran the White Tower restaurant on Leila Avenue. When the mother of two made the decision to establish a place of her own following his death at age 38, she debated what to call it.

“Constantina, who’s 13 years younger than her sister, used to ask why I didn’t use her name and I’d say that I did. ‘Kris’ is for Christina and ‘tina’ is for you,’ I’d tell her.”

For years, Nakoulas and her eldest daughter ran Kristina’s as a team. That changed two years ago when they partnered with Nakoulas’s sister Cathy Mikos, whose family has owned St. Boniface burger joint Mrs. Mikes since 1969.

“Now Christina is over there full time, though if I’m ever stuck, she happily lends a hand. She was here the other day, in fact, answering phones and helping out in the kitchen. That’s family, right?”

Dug & Betty’s Ice Creamery

309 Des Meurons St.

Fern Kirouac was always reminded of his place in the pecking order when he’d show up for work with his two affable basset hounds Dug and Betty in tow.

“Sometimes I’d post a message on Instagram, letting people know the dogs were coming to the restaurant, and by the time the three of us got there, there’d be 50 people in line — none of them to see me.”

Kirouac, who also owns across-the-street Inferno’s Bistro, made the decision well in advance of opening Dug & Betty’s in May 2019 to name it for his pooches. Since artisanal ice cream was going to be the restaurant’s bread and butter, his son Zach suggested he go with something akin to American ice-cream conglomerate Ben & Jerry’s.

“Then he heard a story that (local restaurant chain) Stella’s was named after the owner’s cat, so that cinched it,” Kirouac says, noting both doggos are represented on the menu — Dug by the Dashing Dug brownie sundae and Betty by the Plain Betty hot dog, a quarter-pound all-beef wiener served with a choice of condiments.

Dug — spelled that way for Dug, the talking retriever in the 2009 animated movie Up — died three years ago at age 13. Betty, five years Dug’s junior when he brought her home, is still going strong, Kirouac reports.

“Dug passed away in my hallway and no word of a lie, Betty slept in that exact spot for two months, she missed him so much.”

winnipegfreepress.com/davidsanderson